


Internal Chaos: It gets worse before it gets better

by Adillard



Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, Gen, Heavy Angst, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mental Anguish, Mentions of Alex & Forrest, Mentions of Jesse Manes and his poisonous self, Suicidal Thoughts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-25
Updated: 2020-10-21
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:34:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26648350
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Adillard/pseuds/Adillard
Summary: Mr. Jones messed with Alex's head and Isobel has to go in to see what's going on. And what's going isn't pretty.
Relationships: Isabel Evans & Alex Manes, Michael Guerin/Alex Manes
Comments: 16
Kudos: 152





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I am pretty sure there will be a second part to this that provides some resolution...
> 
> Please excuse any grammatical errors-

Mr. Jones had zeroed in on Alex from the start. It took 5 minutes of Alex being there, before he was unconscious and they couldn’t get him to wake up. 

They had taken Alex to the hospital and were monitoring him to make sure his vitals stayed stable. Michael never left his side. He had asked Isobel to go into Alex's mindscape a few times, but she kept refusing, not wanting to make Alex feel violated in any way. 

But by day 3, Michael, Gregory, and Kyle were reaching panic mode. 

“You have to, Iz! Please!” Michael's voice dripped with so much desperation that Isobel's heart hurt. His face was wrecked, eyes wide with unshed tears, utterly panicked in every way.

“Fine,” she relented, “but I am doing it alone. I don't think he would want everyone wandering around his brain. It wouldn’t be right.”

Everyone nodded and Isobel sat in the chair beside Alex’s hospital bed with a sigh, taking his hand.

It only took a moment before everyone around her disappeared and she was surrounded by a hazy desert and an onslaught of different sounds. 

“Alex!” Isobel called over the chaos. 

“I don’t love you! I don’t!” she could hear Michael yelling in the distance. And then, “Run and tell your dad,” and “I like Maria.”

“Alex! Where are you?” she called again. All around her, memories played of Michael, standing or sitting or even sometimes laying down in a bed somewhere, gaze looking out. Isobel couldn’t tell what he was looking at. But the sounds, Michael’s voice loud around her, didn’t seem to match up with any of the visions of Michael. 

“We’re not good for each other,” and “I don’t want to play your guitar,” and “What was charming when we were 17, it’s just stupid, now.” Michael’s voice everywhere, all at once and it was too much. 

Isobel knelt down, putting her head in her hands and concentrating on a memory that she shared with Alex. 

Everything calmed down for a moment, and when she opened her eyes and stood back up, she was suddenly up on a stage, looking out at Michael and herself. She could hear Alex singing. She looked around to get her bearings. 

Okay, so the memory her brain forced Alex into was of the Open Mic Night- when he sang that painfully gorgeous song at the Wild Pony. She looked around this memory, noticing Gregory sitting at a table, Alex beside her on the stage singing and playing the keyboard, Forrest sitting up close watching Alex with adoration. She watched as the memory version of herself tried to stop Michael from leaving. Unsuccessfully. 

“What are you doing here, Isobel?” Alex’s voice startled her and she looked around to find him looking at her, no longer singing. 

“Alex,” she breathed softly, hurting for him, but relieved. “I had to come in and check on you. You aren’t waking up,” she pointed up for no apparent reason, “out there. Mr. Jones did something, but we don’t know what.”

Alex nodded. “Yeah he came into my head and found my weakness frighteningly quickly. I’m trying to wake up. It’s just taking me a minute.”

“Taking you a minute to do what exactly?” she asked, walking closer to face him.

He glanced over at the memory, where Michael was walking out. “To remember why I should.”

She shook her head, confused. “What?” she asked incredulously.

Alex sighed and bit at his bottom lip for a moment, considering. When it seemed he had made his mind up, he gestured to a booth, and the scenery changed to reflect a semi-busy bar, probably similar to what the Pony would be like if they went there right now. She nodded and followed him to the booth, sitting down across from him. 

“What was all that? When I first came in, it was just chaos in the form of Michael’s voice and all kinds of memories of him.”

Alex took a deep breath and licked his lips. “Yeah, that’s what it’s been like for a while. Memories of the times we have hurt one another…of things he has said and of the times I have walked away and left him behind. It has been hard to come out of it right now. It’s like…” another deep breath, “it’s like Michael was my motivation for so many years- I didn’t have someone to just call at the end of a bad day. I didn’t have any long-term relationships, or any relationships that lasted longer than a night. I didn’t even have any passions or hobbies outside of music. My mom left. My dad put a barrier between all my brothers and I. So, all I had was, like, this constant of Michael. And I always thought we would make it work, we would end up together. Even once I learned about the true meaning of the _Manes Men legacy_ ,” he said with disgust, “I thought if I could just _fix_ it or something and we would still be together in the end.” 

Isobel watched as Alex’s throat worked around a hard swallow, tears in his eyes threatening to fall. He was quiet for a minute and she just let it be, waiting for him to continue. He blinked a few times and cleared his throat, coming back to the conversation. 

“But I guess there are some things that can make you impossible to be with. I finally started to realize that there is no way to separate me from the things myself and my family has done to Michael. And those he loves.”

He met her in the eye again, his eyebrows raising and a tear falling. 

“Alex-" she started.

“Oh my God, words come easy in here. I wonder how different things would have been if I could have told him all of this along the way. But words don’t come like this out there,” he said, pointing to nothing in particular. “Anyway, now,” another deep breath and he bit at the inside of his cheek. “I know I have Gregory back and I started seeing Forrest, but it’s almost like my brain won’t focus on those things. So, it’s just been-" he gestured around himself with one hand, “fucking chaos.”

Isobel shook her head, devastated for him. She grabbed his hand on the table in front of them. “Alex, you _still_ have Michael. He loves you so much. Even if you have hurt each other in the past. You were _meant_ for each other.”

Alex let out a huff of a humorless laugh and licked his bottom lip again. He shook his head and looked down at their hands on the table. “I don’t think that’s true, anymore, Isobel. My dad is responsible for the torture and death of his mom and countless other Aliens. He hurt Michael. He ruined Michael’s chance at every going home when he took that consol piece from me. On top of all the ways I have hurt him, _my family_ has been ruining his life since before you 3 climbed out of your pods. Even after all that, a part of me had thought…I don’t know, maybe he would make it back to me after Maria broke up with him. But he didn’t. Because he doesn’t love me, anymore, Isobel. He has been trying to tell me that for a long time. I just wasn’t listening.”

“You _are_ his home, Alex," she said quietly. When he flinched in irritation, not believing her, heart broke for him. "You totally believe he doesn’t love you,” she whispered, almost to herself, as she realized he couldn’t lie in here.

He nodded, meeting her eye again.

“Why?” she asked.

Slowly, their surroundings changed. Planet 7. She looked around the memory, slowly, trying to find what she was supposed to be looking at. This Alex and the memory Alex were both staring in the direction of one of the walls near the bar, where Michael was being pressed into it by a shorter guy with a buzz cut. Michael had tilted his head to the side and the guy was basically feasting on Michael’s neck. Michael had a smirk on his face, and eventually one of his arms came around the guy's back and pressed in on his ass, pulling him in closer.

Isobel made an exaggerated gagging sound and shook her head. “What an idiot.”

Alex shook his head, a tear falling down his cheek. “No, he’s not. He’s _good_ , Isobel. He is such a good person and he could change the world someday. If he was happy and motivated.”

Isobel reached out and wiped the tear from Alex’s face, but his eyes were still locked on Michael. “He will be happy. Once he’s with _you_.”

“No,” Alex all but whispered. “No, he'll be happy once I’m gone. Once the reminder of everything I represent is no longer shoved in his face at every turn.”

“Alex, you’ve got this all wrong!” she insisted. 

He looked at her again, his eyebrow cocked in a challenge. Stubborn asshole. Then again, that’s why she loved him, wasn’t it? Their feisty souls complimented one another.

“Then don’t do it for him! Do it for me! And Greg and Forrest and Liz and Maria and Kyle. Do it for us, Alex. We shouldn’t have to lose you just because my brother is being an absolute prick!” Isobel was pleading, now. She knew that she could try to influence him, but she didn’t want to do that to him. He would never forgive her. He needed to do this on his own.

He stood for a moment, the mindscape around them changing again to the desert, this time calmer. He nodded. “I’ll keep trying.”

“Thank you,” she whispered. 

“That was, by far, the most I’ve ever heard you say,” she told him after a moment.

He chuckled. “I want to talk like that…it just gets all stuck in my head. Michael always has these declarations. He always says what he needs to- good or bad. But I just get stuck in my head.”

“Alex, please wake up.”

He nodded, but then grabbed her hand quickly. “If I can’t figure out how, please tell him I’m so sorry, Isobel. For everything. For what my family did to him.”

Isobel felt a tear fall down her face, but she nodded and squeezed Alex’s hand tightly. “I will, but he knows none of it was your fault, Alex.”

Alex smiled and it was possibly the saddest thing Isobel had ever seen. “It all is, Isobel. Michael was only targeted because I fell in love with him.”

And then she was pushed out. And she felt slightly disoriented as she sucked in a breath and looked around the crowded hospital room. She felt tears roll down her cheeks. She looked at Alex’s unconscious body and then looked up at Michael where he stood across from her on Alex’s other side. 

“You're a dick,” she told him, before the world started to spin and everything went black. 


	2. 2.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part 2- Michael goes in with Isobel to try to pull Alex back out of his head and wake up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here you go, friends! Thanks so very much for reading and for all of the comments asking for more! I hope you all enjoy this 2nd part!

“She broke up with you because she doesn’t want to be held accountable for her own actions,” Isobel was telling Michael, while she put on her heels and switched her things into a different purse.

Michael rolled his eyes and looked off to the side, his tongue pushing into the side of his cheek as he fought back a snide remark.

“Plus, she knows she isn’t your soulmate. I mean, it’s clear as day already, but there’s no way for her to deny it after the three of you -"

“I got it, Isobel, _fuck_ ,” Michael told her, exasperated. “Also, there’s no such thing as soulmates. We live in the real world, not a Christmas Hallmark movie.”

Isobel stood up straight and ran her hand over her perfectly styled hair, walking around Michael to leave the room and head for the front door. He followed quietly. “Michael, give it up. You have been pining after the same human for 11 years. Max for even longer. I have been in both of your heads. I can assure you, I have never felt for anyone the way you two feel for them. It has to be something to do with where we come from.”

“So your working theory is we imprint on a human and become walking golden retrievers, following loyally behind them as they play fetch with our hearts?”

Isobel rolled her eyes and climbed into the passenger’s seat of Michael’s truck. “You are so dramatic. No one is playing fetch with anyone’s heart.”

“Right. Tell that to Max right now.”

And the bickering over things Alex and Liz had put Michael and Max through over the years continued until they got to Planet 7, where they were having drinks to wallow in breakup woes. 

They hadn’t been there a full hour when Isobel had left with some brunette woman who could have passed for wonder woman. Michael was having a beer alone at the bar, trying to decide whether to go straight home or stop and talk to Max at the Wild Pony. He had to go there at some point. Couldn’t avoid it…and Maria…forever. A shorter, incredibly fit 30-something man with a buzz cut and just the right amount of facial hair came up next to him and looked him up and down slowly.  
“You want to know why I love coming to Planet 7?” Buzz cut asked with a southern drawl so thick it was damn near fake. Michael quirked an eyebrow to signal the shorter man to continue. “Because it's Uranus.”

Michael’s head tipped back, letting out a bark laughter he felt down to his bones. Shit. That felt good. How long had it been since someone made him laugh? Buzz cut let his eyes wander Michael's face, a satisfied smile on his handsome features. Michael caught his eye, a smile still plastered on his own face. 

“That's funny, I'll give you that.”

Buzz cut’s smile started to fade, a more animalistic look of desire and arousal taking over his face. “Anything else you're willing to give me?”

\--

20 minutes and 3 shots later found Michael at a crossroads of sorts. Leave this bar and go home, something he knew would make him feel lonely now but happy later, or go home with this guy and have a little fun, something he knew would make him happy now but lonely later. He was currently being pressed against a wall by buzz cut- wait, it was _Jordan_ he knew now- who was grinding their hips together so hard that Michael had to wonder how they hadn't gotten kicked out of the bar yet. The guy was hot. Like, seriously hot as fuck. He was okay with his tongue, enough that Michael was at least intrigued about what said tongue would be able to do with Michael’s cock. He was currently going at Michael's throat like he was proving a point, and Michael wasn't mad about it. 

Having pretty much made his decision to go home with _Jordan_ , Michael pushed off from the wall, but used his hands to keep Jordan close. He motioned with his head toward the door. “Let’s go for a drive,” he said, knowing his words were dripping with arousal.

And then something happened that hadn’t in a long time. Michael had Alex Manes déjà vu. The night at the drive in when they were trying to make things work for real for the first time- well, the only time, really. And Alex had said he couldn't be with him. He had been disappointed in who Michael had become. Which led to a memory of Alex in the back of Michael's truck when they were kids, telling Michael not to waste his life. Which led to Michael having visceral memories of what it felt like to be loved by Alex Manes. To see such a sad soul have softness and love for Michael. And now, Michael didn't want to go for a drive with Jordan. He didn't want to be anywhere near the guy. 

It might seem like this was a fluke incident, but really it wasn't. Over the years, this tended to happen on occasion. Michael would be about to do something that maybe wasn’t exactly _great_ for himself and then something would happen that would throw him into an Alex Manes memory lane stumble and he would inevitably fall. Which usually led to him doing exactly what he was doing now- leaving. He felt a small wave of guilt for bailing without exchanging numbers, but ultimately he was familiar with this particular brand of self loathing. This could only be survived with copious amounts of alcohol. Lucky, he knew that Max was likely just as miserable, so he texted to see if Max was home yet, before making his way over there, where the two spent the better part of 2 days getting wasted and mourning the loves they had pushed away. 

* * *

  
Watching this Alien doppelganger target Alex had been the single worst moment of Michael's life. It was Michael's kind. Not a human with a sour soul. This was an Antarian who was doing actual damage to Alex. And Michael was powerless. 

For days he had to watch as Alex laid in that fucking hospital bed. For days he begged Isobel to use her powers and fix it! And when she had finally listened, she woke up with a bloody nose and found him instantly. 

“You’re a dick,” she told him. 

And then she passed out.

When Isobel woke up, she was asking him about the night with buzz cut a couple weeks back. She was looking at him in pity and he didn't usually do well when _anyone_ looked at him that way, let alone Isobel. She saved those looks for when he _really_ fucked up. Thing was, he didn't understand why she was asking. He _hadn’t_ hooked up with Jordan that night. And, anyway, how the hell did she know about him? 

“What did you see?” Kyle was asking, at the same time Gregory was asking her if Alex was okay and Liz was requesting Isobel share what was happening to Alex. 

Michael just watched, frozen. He wasn't numb, though. He was hurting. He was terrified. He was angry with himself. And usually he could push through all his feelings to just get through and do everything in his power to make sure Alex was okay. But, this time he was totally powerless.

“We were right, Mr. Jones did target and attack him. Went right for his weakness and it’s all messed up in there. It’s playing hard memories on loops to make it hard for him to remember why he should wake up,” Isobel told them, and honestly Michael was surprised she was being so honest in front of everyone. But also, his heart dropped. And a memory of Alex defiantly telling him “I’m trying to find a reason to stay,” in Michael's bunker a while back hit Michael right in the chest. His head dropped in shame. 

“Michael?” Max asked, at the sudden devastation in Michael's whole being.

“This is the second time he's been targeted because of me. Used as bait,” Michael was practically growling, and Isobel began shaking her head.

“No, stop. That’s where he is at right now, blaming himself for everything that has happened to you, and we can’t move forward- Michael, we can’t _save_ him- unless you both pull out of that headspace and start thinking more clearly.”

Michael's eyes were wet and his jaw worked for a moment before an errant tear escape and rolled down his cheek. He nodded, his eyes glaring into Isobel’s. “Tell me what to do, Iz.”

“We wait a little longer, I think. He was going to keep trying. Let's give him time,” Isobel told him and stood up, gingerly. “But, you're telling me about buzz cut,” she said, leaving no room for arguments. 

* * *

  
They waited one more day, before Michael couldn’t stand it any longer. He knew that Isobel was overwhelmed with his nervous energy, but he was panicked and he couldn’t hold it back anymore. He needed Alex to wake up. He needed Alex to know he was so so loved. His heart had hurt when Isobel told him that Alex had seen him with Jordan and had determined it meant Michael truly didn't want to be with him anymore. Michael needed to correct that. 

Isobel had told him what had happened in Alex’s head the last time. Michael didn’t get the impression that she _wanted_ to share, but more wanted to give Michael caution before he agreed to jump in with her. All it did was make him more insistent on going in with her. 

“You have to calm down, Michael. Its already chaotic in there, we don’t need your energy to make it worse,” Isobel was telling him.

Michael tried to take a deep breath, but the reality was that the thing that usually calmed Michael down was either Alex or acetone and he didn’t want to be under the influence of anything right now. He willed his body to calm down. He decided to focus on happy memories. Of Alex singing on the stage at the Wild Pony. Of Alex tentatively touching Michael in the shed when they were 17. Of waking up to Alex naked and shoved up next to him at the Airstream. Of Alex being there when Michael met his mom. 

And then Michael had a realization. So many of his favorite memories with Alex were followed by bad ones. Him leaving the Wild Pony and Alex kissing someone else. Alex’s dad catching them in the shed. Alex leaving the Airstream before anyone could find out about them. His mom dying right in front of them. But Michael survived these things because of Alex. They survived them together. Because they were strong. They could survive this, too.

Michael looked at Isobel, his expression steeled and strong. He was ready. Without asking, Isobel nodded at him and sat beside him next to Alex’s hospital bed. She grabbed tightly to Alex’s and Michael’s hands and closed her eyes.

\--

Something was wrong. Michael had never been _inside_ anyone’s head, before, but there was definitely something wrong. 

For starters, it was like a damn storm. It was windy. Yeah, literally like a hurricane. They were in what looked like a desert with dirt and bushes blowing flying through the air around them. And it was really fucking loud. With Michael’s voice. 

All around him, his own voice was yelling, “I don’t love you!” and “I don’t want you!” “Run and tell your dad!” and “I love Maria!”

That was concerning in and of itself, but Michael was damn near positive that he had never said some of those things and he certainly hadn’t yelled them. 

“I have never said that!” Michael yelled over to Isobel, hoping she could hear him over how loud everything was.

“He’s gotten worse! It wasn’t like this yesterday! His mind must be twisting your words!” Isobel yelled back and she started to look around, her hair and clothes blowing around erratically. “Alex!” she called out.

“Where are you at, Alex?! I thought I was supposed to be the dramatic one!” Michael shouted. 

“Guerin?” Alex called, his hair windblown and holding up an arm in front of his face to block out the dirt blowing through the air around them. “Is that really you?”

“I brought him in with me!” Isobel was trying to explain, hoping that Alex could trust that this wasn’t a Michael from a memory.

“You shouldn’t have come in here!” Alex was yelling at Michael. 

There was so much chaos that it was hard to understand what was happening. Isobel closed her eyes and focused on a memory of Alex for his brain to focus on. But it wasn’t working as easily as it had last time. 

“Alex, I need you to focus on a calmer memory! I can’t do it this time! Tell me a memory of us and then let’s focus on it together!” she shouted.

It took Alex a moment to take his angry eyes off of Michael and focus on Isobel. Once he did, he said, “The booth at the Crashdown!”

Isobel and Michael both immediately thought of sitting across from Alex at the Crashdown, reading through Tripp Manes' journal. And after a moment, everything calmed down and the three of them were watching themselves in that memory. 

“I was talking about when we found the photo of your mom,” Alex said, and it sounded loud given how quiet everything was, now.

Isobel shrugged. “This works, too, though. Just so that its calm enough for us to actually talk.”

“You just couldn’t help yourself, huh, Guerin? Had to play hero for me, again? Pretend you give a shit for a minute just until I’m safe again, why? To make yourself feel better? Why, Michael? We both know that _I. deserve. this_. Take your own advice and let it go!” Alex was glaring at Michael, his eyes wet and his eyebrows pulled together tightly. 

Michael was shaking his head, not expecting the anger or the sheer amount of words Alex was using. Michael wasn’t holding his own tears back, so they fell freely and he was shaking his head slowly, his face sad and soft, hurting with the knowledge that Alex felt this way.

“You might think you deserve this, Alex, but I know you don’t. I can know it enough for us both,” Michael assured him and he was proud of how steady he had been able to keep his voice. 

“Stop pretending, Michael! I know you don’t love me!” Alex was shaking with anger. 

In contrast, the memory of the three of them played out behind them, sitting at the booth and reading about the cosmic love between Tripp Manes and Nora Truman. 

Michael’s eyes grew sadder and his head twisted a little, truly shocked that Alex believed that. 

“He can’t lie in here,” Isobel told Michael quietly, tears running down her own cheeks.

“Alex, I know I haven’t done the best job of showing you, but I love you more than I could ever put into words. You are the best person I have ever met, and you have been since you were a goddamn teenager. No matter what shit life served you on a platter, you still looked past it to see the good in the world. You _saw_ me and you gave me a chance and you fucking _loved_ me when I didn’t know how to love myself and I didn’t understand it, but I wanted it and I loved it and I’m finally ready to figure out how to be _worthy_ of it, Alex. How to be worthy of _you_!” 

Michael kept his gaze steady on Alex, hoping that Alex could see his honesty. He blinked away a few tears, before wiping at his face. He took a deep breath and re-steeled himself. “I know that things are all messed up in your head right now, so I need you to focus and understand that there is a room full of people out there right now who need you to wake the fuck up. We _want_ you to wake up, Alex. We don’t want to be in a damn world that doesn’t have your sassy, perfectly shaped ass in it!”

“Michael, is it really the time for- never mind it’s true,” Isobel added, rolling her eyes and walking up to Alex. She grabbed his hands into her own. “He’s telling the truth. All of it. Can you focus on that for a minute? Will you let us help you get the hell out of here? The memories are being distorted, now, and I think that’s still part of what Mr. Jones did to you to keep you from wanting to wake up. I’m afraid if we leave you, you won’t find your way.”

Alex was breathing heavily and he looked over Isobel’s shoulder back at Michael again, his eyes softening. 

“What’s going to happen if I wake up?” he said, voice almost scared.

“I’m going to kiss you,” Michael said, matter-of-factly with a nod to himself.

Isobel chuckled. “We are all there. Everyone who loves you. And we will hug you and take better care of you. The way you take care of us.”

Alex swallowed and nodded. “Okay, then, Isobel. Help me back.”

Michael’s whole body relaxed, his breath coming easier and the tension leaving his shoulders. Isobel squeezed Alex’s hands. 

“I have to influence you a little bit, please don’t be mad at me,” Isobel explained and Alex nodded.

“Michael?” Alex called, his voice filled with fear and sadness, and Michael met his eyes with a question. “I love you.”

“Tell me that again when you wake up,” Michael told him, but Alex’s face shifted to one of regret and Michael realized Alex still thought this was just Michael saying anything he needed to say to get Alex to wake up. 

\--

  
Michael gasped for air, coming back to himself and not loving the dizziness that came with that. He turned to the side a little and Kyle jumped in with enough time to shove a waste basket under his face before he threw up.

A few moments later, Isobel did the same, this time without a bloody nose and seemed a lot more settled with herself. 

“Is he okay?” Gregory asked her.

She smiled and nodded. “Yeah, he’s just right behind us.”

Sure enough, not a full minute later Alex’s pulse sped up for a moment before he opened his eyes and began coughing. His pulse went back down to normal as he looked around and tracked the people in the room. Kyle and Gregory, Flint, Maria, Liz, Rosa, even Max and Jenna Cameron were all there standing around the room, some of them crying and others looking ecstatic.

It didn’t take long for his eyes to find Michael’s and his heart clenched at the look of adoration shining in the cowboy's wet eyes. 

“You still love me, Private?” he asked, voice thick and nervous. 

Alex felt tears on his own face and he nodded slowly.

“Have I waited long enough, darlin’? Can I kiss you now?” Michael asked.

Alex nodded again, and his eyes dipped down to watch Michael’s lips as Michael drew closer. It was possibly one of the softest kisses they had ever shared. It was full of so much love it almost hurt. Their lips moved softly together and Michael was practically breathing Alex in, Alex’s hands reaching out to pull Michael in closer despite the awkward angle. 

After a moment, Michael tilted his head and licked at Alex’s lips and when Alex granted him access, Michael dove in. 

“Stop hogging him!” Isobel called, while Liz whistled loudly and Gregory smiled wide. 

“Oh my God, Michael, he’s been unconscious for like 4 days, will you let him breathe?” Max asked, playing for irritation, but happy for his brother.

Kyle chuckled, relieved, but also hoping to have a minute to check his friend’s vitals.

Michael reached out with one hand and shooed everyone away without breaking the kiss. Alex was tugging at Michael now, silently asking him to climb into the bed with him, and Michael was only too happy to oblige, kicking off his boots and climbing in. They both laughed lightly at the combined groan from the room, but quickly delved back in to one another, not noticing when everyone else left.

They broke apart a few minutes later, pressing their foreheads together and breathing each other in. “Did you mean everything you said?” Alex asked quietly.

“Every single word.”

Alex nodded a little. “I love you.”

Michael brought his hand up to Alex’s neck and he held on tight. “Talking dirty to me, already, Private? But we’re basically in public.”

Alex laughed. “You are worthy of my love, Michael,” he added, more seriously. 

Michael swallowed. “Isobel told me that you saw me at Planet 7, and I just need you to know that I-"

“You don't have to explain anything, Michael, you don't owe me anything. “

Michael met Alex’s eye, face serious and needing Alex to hear him. “I owe you everything.”

Alex ran a hand over Michael's chest, playing with the buttons on his shirt and a blush on his cheeks. “It’s okay to be angry with me, you know. For everything you've been through.”

Michael's heart clenched and he shook his head quickly, using a finger under Alex’s chin to make Alex find his eyes. “Nothing that has happened is your fault. Nothing. I need you to stop thinking that. You can't keep taking on the blame that belongs to other men, Alex.”

Alex hesitantly nodded and kissed Michael, gently. He could try.

“And anyways, Isobel’s convinced aliens basically imprint on humans, her evidence being limited to literally just Max and I being in love with Liz and you since we were kids, meaning that I’m probably going to be burdening you with my love for the rest of time. So, we might as well make the best of it.”

“I think she loves me more than you,” Alex told him light-heartedly. “Maybe you both imprinted on me. What will happen, now, will you fight to the death?”

Michael laughed loudly. “I don’t think that will be necessary. You two are more kindred spirits than star-crossed lovers. My sour-patch kids.”

Alex screwed up his face in question.

“First we’re sassy,” Isobel said, walking into the room again, a smile on her perfect face. “Then we're sweet,” she finished with a wink. 


End file.
